Pixies

This article is about the band named Pixies. For pixies of folklore, see pixie.

The Pixies are a band which toured and recorded in the late 1980s and early
1990s, then reunited in 2004 and
began touring again. The band's lineup consists of Black Francis a.k.a. Frank
Black (vocals, guitar), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim Deal (bass, vocals), and David
Lovering (drums). Their style of music influenced many aspects of alternative rock throughout the 1990s. Most notable was their use
of soft verses and hard choruses, which was later popularized by Nirvana.

History

The band was formed in 1986 in Boston, Massachusetts by Joey Santiago and Black Francis (born Charles Thompson IV). Bassist Kim Deal
joined the band after she responded to a classified ad Black Francis had placed which requested an unusual combination of musical
influences. Reportedly, the ad asked for a bass player who liked The Mamas and the Papas and Husker Du.

They arrived at a name ("Pixies") by selecting an entry from the dictionary at random, and began playing shows in the Boston
area.

During a concert with Throwing Muses, the band was noticed by
Gary Smith, a producer at Fort Apache Studios. Smith
became the band's manager and produced a 17 track demo (known as the "Purple Tape", publicly released in 2002). The demo fell into the hands of Ivo Watts-Russell, owner of
4AD, who signed the band. Eight tracks from the demo were selected for the
Come on Pilgrim EP, the
band's first release. It was followed by their first full-length album, Surfer
Rosa in early 1988.

4AD was a British music label, and the notoriously
rabid British music press immediately clutched the Pixies to their collective bosoms and refused to let go. The band remained
unsigned in the US for a while, but after a foray up the UK pop charts and some inroads into American college rock stations, they
were picked up by Elektra Records. For the remainder of their career,
the Pixies remained large-scale stars in Britain and cult figures in the US.

Their sophomore album, Doolittle, featured three
prominent singles: "Debaser," "Here Comes Your Man," and "Monkey Gone to Heaven." It was a top 10 hit in the UK and reached the
top 100 in North America.

After Doolittle, Black Francis temporarily went solo, while Kim Deal formed The Breeders with Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses
and Deal's sister, Kelley. During this time, Black Francis limited Deal's contributions to the band; the first two albums had
been partly written by Deal, but when Bossanova was released in 1990, all songs were by him. Deal was not pleased, and unilaterally announced an apparent break-up
of the band on-stage during the following tour. The Pixies were at the height of their popularity, however, and while headlining
at the Reading Festival in 1991, they played a highly enthusiastic version of "Debaser" which has become legendary among fans.

Break-up announcements notwithstanding, one more album was to follow. Trompe le Monde still featured little input from Deal and wasn't as critically regarded as their first
few albums. Without telling anyone, Black Francis ended the band, and it wasn't until a year later that he faxed an official
notice to the other members.

After the break-up

Black Francis renamed himself Frank Black, and released several solo
albums. He then went on to form a band with Scott Boutier, Eric Drew, Rich Gilbert, David McGaffrey, and Dave Phillips called
Frank Black and the Catholics. Deal returned to the Breeders, and scored a hit with
"Cannonball" from that group's Last Splash in 1993. However, for several years they struggled to produce another album, mainly due to Kelley Deal's struggles with heroin. The album, Title TK, finally appeared in 2002, with only Kim
and Kelley remaining from the previous Breeders lineup. Kim Deal has also recorded with The Amps. Lovering dropped back into obscurity, making occasional appearances as a "scientific phenomenalist", performing experiments on stage; he also drummed on one of
Tanya Donelly's solo albums. Santiago has appeared on Frank Black's solo
albums, writes music for FOX television, and has a band called The Martinis
with his wife, Linda Mallari.

Musically, the Pixies were just slightly ahead of their time. Right at the moment they were imploding, Nirvana was recording
Nevermind, the album that would break alternative rock into the
mainstream. There are substantial parallels between the two groups' sounds and Kurt Cobain was known to have been a fan—in fact, in a Rolling Stone interview he claimed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was his attempt to write a Pixies song. This revitalized some interest in
the band after they were gone.

Reunion

In the 11 years since the band broke up, there were a number of rumors that would circulate regarding reunion tours. Roughly
once a year on April Fool's Day someone would be led to believe
that the band had re-united. It wasn't until 2004 when the Pixies would play their first "post-breakup" concert on April 13 at The Fine Line Music Cafe in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota and a 15 concert warmup tour of the western United States and Canada, culminating
in the performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Tickets for shows on this tour often
sold out minutes after going on sale despite some rather moderately sized Canadian cities such as Winnipeg and Regina being stops. It is rumoured that these dates hold
the world record for fastest selling shows ever.

This was followed by a three-month world tour and four-month return to the US, ending on December 18 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York
City (see tour dates (http://www.pixiesmusic.com/live_04.php) for detailed information).

In spring 2004, 4AD released Wave of Mutilation: The Best of the Pixies and a companion DVD which
features a full concert, the music videos, and a documentary on the Pixies. A "new retrospective compilation CD" is set for
release in the near future. Many of the reunion shows, including that April 13 show in Minneapolis, were sold by DiscLive (http://pixies.disclive.com/) in sets of 1,000. The entire edition size has now sold out.

The entire edition size has now sold out. Other noted TV music work includes
The Commish, Newsradio, Blossom, The A-Team, The Greatest
American Hero, Magnum, P.I., Tenspeed and Brown
Shoe, CHiPs, and Baa Baa Black Sheep. Many of the reunion shows, including that April 13 show in Minneapolis, were sold by DiscLive (http://pixies.disclive.com/) in sets of 1,000. Law, Hunter, and the various
Law & Order series. A "new retrospective compilation CD" is set for
release in the near future. He won BMI Awards for the music for L.A. In spring 2004, 4AD released Wave of Mutilation: The Best of the Pixies and a companion DVD which
features a full concert, the music videos, and a documentary on the Pixies. He won an Emmy for the theme to Murder One, but had previously been
nominated for NYPD Blue, among others.

This was followed by a three-month world tour and four-month return to the US, ending on December 18 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York
City (see tour dates (http://www.pixiesmusic.com/live_04.php) for detailed information). Another early job was
writing music, including the theme for the series Toma, but his big break-through
came with his theme song for another series by producer Stephen J.
Cannell, The Rockford Files; the theme also got
cross-over Top 40 radio airplay. It is rumoured that these dates hold
the world record for fastest selling shows ever. He won his first Grammy at age 22 for Best Instrumental Arrangement on Mason Williams' "Classical Gas." One of his first TV jobs started when he was 24, as the musical director on
The Andy Williams Show. Tickets for shows on this tour often
sold out minutes after going on sale despite some rather moderately sized Canadian cities such as Winnipeg and Regina being stops. He was born September 29, 1944 in Los Angeles,
California. It wasn't until 2004 when the Pixies would play their first "post-breakup" concert on April 13 at The Fine Line Music Cafe in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota and a 15 concert warmup tour of the western United States and Canada, culminating
in the performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Mike Post is a Grammy and Emmy award winning composer of music and theme songs for many of the most popular TV dramas first shown in the United States.

Roughly
once a year on April Fool's Day someone would be led to believe
that the band had re-united. In the 11 years since the band broke up, there were a number of rumors that would circulate regarding reunion tours. This revitalized some interest in
the band after they were gone. There are substantial parallels between the two groups' sounds and Kurt Cobain was known to have been a fan—in fact, in a Rolling Stone interview he claimed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was his attempt to write a Pixies song.

Right at the moment they were imploding, Nirvana was recording
Nevermind, the album that would break alternative rock into the
mainstream. Musically, the Pixies were just slightly ahead of their time. Santiago has appeared on Frank Black's solo
albums, writes music for FOX television, and has a band called The Martinis
with his wife, Linda Mallari. Lovering dropped back into obscurity, making occasional appearances as a "scientific phenomenalist", performing experiments on stage; he also drummed on one of
Tanya Donelly's solo albums.

Kim Deal has also recorded with The Amps. The album, Title TK, finally appeared in 2002, with only Kim
and Kelley remaining from the previous Breeders lineup. However, for several years they struggled to produce another album, mainly due to Kelley Deal's struggles with heroin. Deal returned to the Breeders, and scored a hit with
"Cannonball" from that group's Last Splash in 1993.

He then went on to form a band with Scott Boutier, Eric Drew, Rich Gilbert, David McGaffrey, and Dave Phillips called
Frank Black and the Catholics. Black Francis renamed himself Frank Black, and released several solo
albums. Without telling anyone, Black Francis ended the band, and it wasn't until a year later that he faxed an official
notice to the other members. Trompe le Monde still featured little input from Deal and wasn't as critically regarded as their first
few albums.

Break-up announcements notwithstanding, one more album was to follow. The Pixies were at the height of their popularity, however, and while headlining
at the Reading Festival in 1991, they played a highly enthusiastic version of "Debaser" which has become legendary among fans. Deal was not pleased, and unilaterally announced an apparent break-up
of the band on-stage during the following tour. During this time, Black Francis limited Deal's contributions to the band; the first two albums had
been partly written by Deal, but when Bossanova was released in 1990, all songs were by him.

After Doolittle, Black Francis temporarily went solo, while Kim Deal formed The Breeders with Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses
and Deal's sister, Kelley. Their sophomore album, Doolittle, featured three
prominent singles: "Debaser," "Here Comes Your Man," and "Monkey Gone to Heaven." It was a top 10 hit in the UK and reached the
top 100 in North America. For the remainder of their career,
the Pixies remained large-scale stars in Britain and cult figures in the US. The band remained
unsigned in the US for a while, but after a foray up the UK pop charts and some inroads into American college rock stations, they
were picked up by Elektra Records.

4AD was a British music label, and the notoriously
rabid British music press immediately clutched the Pixies to their collective bosoms and refused to let go. It was followed by their first full-length album, Surfer
Rosa in early 1988. Eight tracks from the demo were selected for the
Come on Pilgrim EP, the
band's first release. The demo fell into the hands of Ivo Watts-Russell, owner of
4AD, who signed the band.

Smith
became the band's manager and produced a 17 track demo (known as the "Purple Tape", publicly released in 2002). During a concert with Throwing Muses, the band was noticed by
Gary Smith, a producer at Fort Apache Studios. They arrived at a name ("Pixies") by selecting an entry from the dictionary at random, and began playing shows in the Boston
area. Reportedly, the ad asked for a bass player who liked The Mamas and the Papas and Husker Du.

Bassist Kim Deal
joined the band after she responded to a classified ad Black Francis had placed which requested an unusual combination of musical
influences. The band was formed in 1986 in Boston, Massachusetts by Joey Santiago and Black Francis (born Charles Thompson IV). Most notable was their use
of soft verses and hard choruses, which was later popularized by Nirvana. Their style of music influenced many aspects of alternative rock throughout the 1990s.

Frank
Black (vocals, guitar), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim Deal (bass, vocals), and David
Lovering (drums). The band's lineup consists of Black Francis a.k.a. The Pixies are a band which toured and recorded in the late 1980s and early
1990s, then reunited in 2004 and
began touring again. Download
sample of "Holiday Song" from Come on Pilgrim.